The Wrong Brother for Brooke (Hot Tide Book 3)

by Michele De Winton

  “See where she takes you. Cool. Hey can I get a picture with you?”

  “Sure. You want to wear my medal in it?”

  “Oh my god. Are you serious? My friends are going to die.”

  Brooke put her arm round the girl and they posed for the selfie.

  “I’m going to apply for that scholarship thing to Hawaii next year. Was that you?

  Trying to make it easier for us than it was for you?” the young girl asked.

  Brooke shook her head. “Nah. It was him.” She nodded her head at Kai. “He might be

  a dick sometimes, but he’s not all bad.”

  The girl frowned. Then looked at Kai. “Really? You?”

  “Not just me,” he said but he didn’t take his eyes off Brooke. “A bunch of people who

  know how hard it is for women to make it in this sport made that happen.”

  “Rad,” the girl said and turned to leave. “Sorry about before,” she said to Kai over her

  shoulder. “I thought you were, you know, just another one of those guys. But I guess you’re not.”

  When they were alone again, Kai looked at the floor a moment before looking up, and

  into Brooke’s eyes. “Did you mean that?” he asked carefully.

  “Which part?” Brooke asked. “The part where I said I get why you didn’t think I

  should ride in the Freak of the Reef? Or the bit where I called you a dick?”

  He laughed. “Can it be both?”

  Seeing the smile on her face, finally, was like the sun coming out after a long wet

  winter. “Yes, both is probably accurate.”

  She toyed with the medal she’d gotten back off the young surfer. “I get that you were

  trying to protect me. And that I had been so driven by proving myself to the entire world, that I forgot where it all started. I talked to Ash and he made me realize I’ve been fighting so hard and so long that I’ve forgotten to look up and see how far I’ve come.”

  Kai went to take her hand then hesitated. “You’re amazing. Did your brother tell you

  that too?”

  She laughed and smiled. “After he’d punched my arm. Yeah, he told me.” She

  looked up at him through long lashes. “That was amazing what you did. Organizing

  that scholarship. Sorry for saying all that stuff about you only pulling me out because I was a woman. I know that’s not you. The scholarship will make a difference. It already is.”

  “It was the least I could do.” He paused then said the four words he’d been needing

  to say ever since he’d realized his mistake. “I am so sorry,” he said and finally saying the words out loud lifted something off his chest that had been churning and darkening ever since Brooke had told him to get out. “It was a dick move going to your manager behind your back.”

  “It was,” Brooke said. “But I get it. You were worried that I wouldn’t listen

  otherwise, and you were probably right. I might not have.”

  But Kai shook his head. “No. I tried to hide behind that excuse but it’s only partly

  true. I took just as many risks as you do. Maybe even more when I was a kid. No, you were right when you told me this was about me running away. About me being scared of giving up my freedom. We were getting close and I was afraid that you getting hurt would hurt me too, so I pushed you away.” He took a breath. “It’s been Holo and I against the world forever. He warned me that you would want someone focused on the future, someone to build something with, and I was afraid that I couldn’t give that to you. I was afraid that I didn’t know how to live life more than day to day.” He didn’t hesitate this time and took Brooke’s hand. To his gratification she let him take it. “I’m sorry I didn’t know how to see you in my life long term.”

  He worried that he’d said too much. But she didn’t drop her gaze. “What about now?

  Do you see me in your life now?” she asked.

  He didn’t hesitate. “I see you in every part of my life.”

  Her smile grew and his heart pushed hard at his ribs, almost painful as it seemed to

  swell to twice its usual size. But Brooke bit her lip. There was more. He waited for the punch line. The part where she told him that it wasn’t enough. That his gesture with the Hawaiian scholarship was too little too late.

  “You said you didn’t think the trial with the WSL medial team was going to work out.

  After the amazing picture Ash took, and, well,” she looked down at the medal in her hand. “It looks like I’m okay now. I’ve got sponsors lining up for next season already. I’m going to be on tour a lot.”

  “I was angry and maybe a bit lost when I said that,” Kai said. “I like the medical

  team, they’re willing to listen, to try new things. It’s a good gig.”

  Her face brightened again. “So you’re staying around? What about your big life, your

  pursuit of freedom?”

  “Freedom isn’t about where you stand, it’s about how you stand,” he said and then

  recognized the truth in the words. Then just in case she hadn’t got it he added, “I’m staying on the circuit. To be with you. If you’ll let me.”

  The pause was the longest of his life as she checked his eyes to see if he was messing

  with her. She toyed with her medal. “I get priority on your massage table.”

  “Of course.” Relief swamped him. She didn’t hate him.

  “See where the ocean leads us then?” she said with a mischievous grin.

  He let the relief turn to joy. “So long as she leads us to bed?” he tried, and she punched him in the arm, then let him pull her towards him and wrap his arms around her.

  “I thought I’d never fall for anyone as hard as I fell for the ocean,” Brooke said. “But

  I’m falling for you Kainui Keanu.” She put a finger to the button on his shirt and the heat from the contact held the promise of her hands over his body, of her putting her lips where her finger touched. As if she was as drunk on finding him again as he was, she gazed up at him with a lightly puzzled look. “What does that even mean anyway?”

  “Kainui?” he asked. “It means big ocean. So that means you should be in my bed

  because all mermaids belong in big ocean.” He looked down at her and wondered how he’d ever lived without her in his life. “It means you and me work.”

  She reached up and kissed him. A long languid kiss that lit up every one of his nerve

  endings. “We work, huh? Is that what you’re going to tell the press?” She jerked her head at the cameraman who was quietly snapping shots of them in each other’s arms.

  “Well if anyone asked, I’d say that I was falling in love with you. But I wouldn’t expect to speak your truth, you’re so good at doing that yourself.”

  Her eyes widened and Brooke bit her lip. The lip he wanted desperately to own, forever.

  “And what about you?” he growled, still looking at her lips. “Anything you need to ask me?”

  She kissed him again and when he came up for air he gazed into her dark endless eyes

  and marveled at how much like the deepest ocean they were. “Just checking that you got the right brother for sure this time,” he said.

  “Better believe it,” she said, not moving from his arms. “And this time, there’s no way I’m letting you go.”

  Want more? Read on.

  Book one - Another Shot with Summer

  He broke her heart like a cheap surfboard…can he win her back?

  After an accident stole his surfing career, Ashton Evans has a chance to reinvent his life by photographing the leaders of the World Surfing League. The problem? Summer Roberts is his first client.

  Now the woman he can’t forget is spending long, hot Indonesian days in front of his lens. In a bikini. And worse, she’s steaming up his nights.

  But no matter how tempting Summer is, Ashton must keep his hands to himself. For the sake of her career, Summer i
s pretending she’s still in a relationship with someone else.

  Being seen with Ashton could blow her chance at making it onto the World Surfing League leader board for good. But with their attraction as unstoppable as one of the giant ocean waves that rule their lives, will they be tumbled under by it? Or will Ashton finally get his second shot with Summer?

  Get ready for a wet, hot ride.

  Grab it now

  Book two - Making over Maya

  Maya Taylor is all sass and style when it comes to closing a PR deal, but when it comes to men, she has about as much witty banter as a drowning grommet. So when fashion mogul, Dominic Wolfe, enters her life, he seems to be bringing the perfect deal.

  She’ll teach him all there is to know about the highly competitive side of surf sponsorship. And in return, Dominic will turn the beautiful surf-klutz into a man-magnet. Dream deal, right?

  Only the lessons start getting hotter than the beach mid-summer and Dominic realizes he wants more. Much more. But the deal was their relationship wouldn’t cross the line between business and pleasure.

  Cinderella isn’t supposed to end up with a Wolfe…

  Grab it now

  Another Shot with Summer – Bonus Read

  “Really? We’re supposed to be having a meeting, and you take your shirt off?” PR up-and-comer Maya Taylor said in her driest voice.

  Ashton Evans looked down at his torso and shrugged. “I’m hot.”

  “You don’t say,” Maya sighed.

  “You know what I mean. I’m burning up out here.”

  “You’re my best girl’s brother, so I couldn’t possibly comment. But seriously, put it away, Evans.”

  Ashton laughed but pulled his T-shirt over his head and readjusted his camera strap. “Tell me why we’re here, then?”

  Maya didn’t say anything, just pointed at a wave rolling in towards the beach.

  “Sweet mother of monsters,” he breathed. Starting out deep in the barrel of the enormous wave, a tiny combination of surfer and board seemed impossibly fragile against the might of all that water. Ashton squinted into the sunlight as the wave started closing, threatening to suck everything down to the coral graveyard below. “Get outta there,” Ashton said, his voice barely a whisper. He knew first-hand the reef that hid under the water was a surfer’s best friend and deadliest enemy in equal measure.

  “Pick up the pace, dude, or you’re going to get crushed,” he hissed.

  Everyone on the crowded Brazilian beach was focused on the battle between board and wave. For the longest time, the surfer was winning. Putting his camera to his eye, Ashton focused his telescopic lens to get a better view. “Who takes on anything that big in these conditions? He’s got balls of steel and a mean set of skills, that’s for sure.” “She sure does.”

  “She?” Ashton glanced at Maya and lowered his camera.

  His sister’s best friend cleared her throat and lowered her sunglasses to give him a cool, even stare. Maya Taylor always had a plan. When she’d called and demanded he have a meeting with her on the beach, he figured she had a solid reason. Now he was standing with her on Barra da Tijuca’s white sand and she had that look in her eye.

  “I smell something going on here. Come on, spill,” he said.

  A collective gasp came from the crowd behind them, and Ashton swung his gaze back to the water as the last tongue of white foam crashed from its five-overhead height. The surfer shot out, carving almost to the top of the remaining swell. Ashton was about to fist-pump the air on her behalf when the surfer lost her balance and tumbled into the water.

  “Shit.” Ashton felt the white scar the surfer’s board left in the water as keenly as if he were the ocean itself.

  He waited for the surfer to pop back up to the surface.

  And waited.

  And waited.

  “Double shit.” Thrusting his camera into Maya’s hands, he waded into the ocean, his instinct driving him to find the surfer and pull her out. But the weight of the water was fierce, the whitewash from the giant wave surging against him, doing its best to throw him down. “Come on, stupid leg.” His thigh was screaming at him to stop, to get out of the water and back to dry land where it could at least pretend to be a functional limb. This battle with the water that he could no longer win was why he’d lost everything that had once been important to him. Ashton stopped, unable to go forward but not willing to take his eyes off the spot where the surfer had gone down. And then… thank kuuuurist. The surfer popped back up on the surface and started paddling to shore.

  His body surging with adrenaline and his mind full of bitter self-loathing at his useless leg, Ashton limped out of the shore-break.

  Maya handed back his camera. “Good. I need you able to work, not washed out to sea like over-groomed shark-bait.”

  His reply came out gruffer than it needed to. “Over-groomed shark-bait?”

  “Okay, bad analogy. But I do need you. I need you to take her photo.” She nodded to the water and the surfer who was now headed towards them. Maya beamed and waved her arms overhead in an extravagant welcome.

  Ashton pointed his camera and focused. “Oh no.”

  “What?” When he glanced at Maya, she was the picture of innocence.

  “That’s Summer Roberts.”

  “Yep.

  He looked out at the surfer paddling steadily towards them, and his heart clenched, cold and hard. Of all the people Maya wanted to throw at him when he was finally getting his life back together, she chose his one-that-got-away? Really? “You want me to take her photo?”

  “For a fruit juice commercial, yes. She’s amazing, you just said so yourself. But no one gets it. Not yet. You and I have to change that. We’re going to make her shine like the star she is—all by herself, rather than just as someone’s girlfriend.”

  Ashton couldn’t help himself. He sighed. “Like a star…” he started, then shook his head. “You’re dreaming. No way she’s going to want to work with me.”

  “Yes, she will. She needs the best, and you’re the best sports photographer there is.” She bit her lip then continued in a rush. “She finally told T.J. where to go, but she’s stuck with him because of some stupid media clause in the contract the two of them signed when they started dating. They have to stay together for the next twelve months, publicly, and you can bet his manager is working on a strategy that makes him come out looking better at the end of it.”

  “T.J. Morris?” Ashton swept his hand through his thick hair and tugged at the mess the Brazilian sun and sand had already made of it. He’d been in Brazil a week, meeting with old contacts to get himself back into the scene of the World Surfing League.

  “Don’t pretend you’ve forgotten who he is. I know he pissed you off just as much as everyone else on the circuit when he won the last championship on a foul. Guy’s okay on a surfboard sure, but he doesn’t have the heart for the water like you and Summer do.”

  “I think you’ve got me confused with someone else.” He looked up and saw Summer getting closer. “Anyway, surely she can just tell him to go screw himself and forget the agreement?”

  “Sure she can. And then he’ll gladly sue her for everything she’s got. If that happens, she’s done. You know how hard it is to get into the pro circuit. Try doing that and being bankrupt at the same time.”

  Ashton nodded slowly. You couldn’t work and go pro. No money meant no time in the water. Shitty luck.

  “I knew you’d get it. So, you also get she has to suck up and play nice with T.J. Doesn’t mean she can’t think about what happens next, though. We need to start building her solo brand. Now.”

  He looked back out at the surf and then ducked his head as Summer looked up from paddling. Time to get out of here. The last thing he needed was to feel any type of feels for Summer Roberts again. “We? Nope. Not my problem.” He turned to go, but Maya put a hand on his arm.

  “I know, but you could be part of the solution. Make up for being a shithead to her five years ago.”


  He opened his mouth to protest, but Maya wasn’t finished. “This could be a win-win for you, too. Get you into the Surf League circuit again. Put you back in the water. I know that’s what you want.” She eyed him carefully, but she had his attention now and she knew it. “No one knows Summer and T.J. split except the two of them, his manager, your sister, and me. And now you.”

  “You’re trusting me with it ’cause my sister will kill me if I spill, or because Summer and I have history?” he said, gruff with the memory of the crushed look on Summer’s face as a seventeen-year-old.

  “Because I want your photos.”

  Ashton smirked at her bluntness, then thought about being the one to make a dent in T.J. Morris’s ego. The pro surfer had been one of his biggest competitors when Ashton had been surfing in the World Surfing League international circuit. Biggest competitor and biggest asshole. He made a motion of zipping his lips. “Your secret is safe. But putting me and her in a room is a stupid idea.”

  “I happen to know you’ve built your reputation on making stupid ideas work.”

  “Touché, Ms. Taylor.”

  She raised an eyebrow over the top of her sunglasses. “All you need to do is be your charming self. Well, at least try and be charming.”

  “You’re telling him to be charming? You’ve got to be kidding.”

  Ashton jerked around. Summer . Holy hot damn.

  The lanky teenager she’d been when he’d last seen her was gone, and in her place was one tall, strawberry-blond picture of heavenly. He’d recently seen her in a magazine piece about T.J., but the photographer hadn’t done her justice. As if the ocean was still wrapped around her, Summer’s long wet hair lay like a mermaid’s in waves along her neck, and her muscled arms never rested, flexing as she held her board or moved it to her hip. Her taut, beautifully curved hip.